


as a shrike to your sharp and glorious thorn

by orphan_account



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Boba is a victim too, Boba needs a hug, CT-7567 | Rex Needs a Hug, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, He's also a little teenage jerk, No Beta We Die Like Clones, Post-Order 66, hugs for everyone, lucking Rex knows how to deal with that, rex is a good big bro
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:46:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24223768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: His voice was a small thing when he managed to make it work. “…Buir?”Rex took another step back, only to step forward again when Boba wavered on his feet, staring up at him looking so hopeful and open and young Rex thought he might throw up.“Sorry kid.” Rex reached up and pushed his hood back, revealing his face in the low light spilling out from the Cantina. “I’m not your dad.”[Two years after the fall of the republic, Rex sees a familiar face in a crowd.]
Relationships: Boba Fett & CT-7567 | Rex
Comments: 29
Kudos: 440





	as a shrike to your sharp and glorious thorn

**Author's Note:**

> _I couldn't utter my love when it counted  
>  Ah, but I'm singing like a bird, 'bout it now  
> I couldn't whisper when you needed it shouted  
> Ah, but I'm singing like a bird, 'bout it now_
> 
> From Shrike by Hozier
> 
> Inspired by this [art and ask](https://suja-janee.tumblr.com/post/618302124734955520/your-au-with-rex-and-boba-has-so-much-angst) on Tumblr

He was at least a foot taller than the last time Rex had seen him. The same face and eyes he remembered (used to see in the mirror) and the easy bravery that comes from being young that he didn't anymore. His hair was buzzed short now, not that floppy mess he used to favor when Jango was alive.

He wore a few pieces of Mandalorian beskar’gam (Rex tried never to think about how Boba's heritage was never questioned the way the clones' had been), supplemented with the leathers and weaponry of a bounty hunter. Rex set his drink down and allowed the barkeep to bring him another, which he held but didn’t sip as he eyed the kid from across the room.

He was too young, really, to be there. So was Rex technically, not that he was about to bring it up, and rules like that tended to blur in these Outer Rim territories anyway. There were bigger issues to worry about. And the way Boba was throwing back shots, it was obvious it wasn’t his first time in an establishment such as this.

Rex decided after a while to leave him to it. He held no claim to the kid, and no love lost considering what he knew of him. Whatever Boba was doing it really wasn’t any of Rex’s business. His concern was just to lay low until he could finish repairing his ship and get off this karking dirt ball.

“Say that again you karking sludge filled Hutt turd!”

Rex raised his eyebrows at his drink with a small smirk. _Kid insults like a Shiny._

A quick glance over his shoulder and he counted three huge creatures with scars and fangs, squaring off with Boba who stood a head and shoulders shorter than them all with his chin up and fists clenched, spoiling for a fight.

Rex rolled his eyes.

_Holds his drink like one too._

He dropped a few credits on the bar top and got up to make his way to the door, pulling his cloak hood over his head and face. Outside he stopped in the shadows of a building across the street and waited. It only took a few minutes for the voices inside the cantina to reach a fever pitch and then a slightly gangly body crashed through the flimsy wood door and tumbled out into the street.

As Rex watched Boba groaned wiped blood from his mouth as stumbled to his feet. A few more insults were hurled from inside, along with a helmet that matched Boba’s armor. Immediately the kid was charging headlong back toward the door. Rex to stepped forward and grabbed him before he could swinging him around to slam his back into the wall beside the door, just this side of too rough.

Before Rex could speak Boba had reached for a blade sheathed in his vambrace. Rex twisted to one side pushing his leg against him, pining Boba’s lower body so he could free his right arm to block the strike. He smacked the knife away and it clattered to the ground. Boba swore and shoved hard with his shoulders and what little leverage he had from his one free arm in an attempt to get free. But Rex was bigger and much less drunk. He blocked him, this time grabbing his right thumb, pulling it back until it was almost touching the same arm and Boba swore so viciously Rex found he was a little impressed.

Hissing at the pain, Boba pulled a DC15 out of his other holster, only for Rex to spin around and kick that out of his hands too.

“Will you stop pulling weapons on me, _di’kut_?” Rex hissed. “I’m trying to keep you from getting yourself killed.”

Boba stilled so instantly that Rex took a small step back to look him in the face.

His mouth hung open, his eyes wide enough he could see the whites all they way around the pupils.

His voice was a small thing when he managed to make it work. “… _Buir?_ ”

Rex took another step back, only to step forward again when Boba wavered on his feet, staring up at him looking So hopeful and open and _young_ Rex thought he might throw up.

“Sorry kid.” Rex reached up and pushed his hood back, revealing his face in the low light spilling out from he Cantina. “I’m not your dad.”

Boba’s face shuttered and hardened like he’d been carved from Carbonite.

“I know that, _clone_.” He snarled. He gave Rex another push and this time Rex let himself be moved, watching as Boba stumbled away, his shoulders tight and hunched up by his ears. He retrieved his vibroblade, swiped a hand across his eyes, and then kept looking around as if searching for something.

Rex spotted his blaster on the ground and picked it up.

“Looking for this?”

Boba scowled at him and stomped over, snatching the weapon out of his hand. “Gimme that.”

Rex let him take it and politely pretended he couldn’t see the way his hands shook when he reholstered it.

“You got somewhere to stay tonight?” Rex asked when the kid just kept standing there, arms crossed over his chest, glaring at the ground.

“Yeah.”

“Where?”

“Wherever I want.” He sniffed and set his jaw in that stubborn way that reminded Rex so much of Fives his chest ached. He forced himself to take a few deep breaths, pushing the pain aside to be dealt at a later time that would never come. 

“Come with me. You can stay on my ship tonight. Sleep off the drink.”

Boba turned to frown at him. “I don’t need your help.”

Rex just nodded, pulling his hood back up. “I’m not offering you help. I’m offering you a safe place to stay for the night.”

With that he turned and left, picking his way quietly through the darkness toward the shipyard on the outskirts of town. He was unsurprised when he heard the soft crunch of boots on gravel behind him a few minutes later.

* * *

“You can sleep here kid.” Rex pulled the twin bunk out of the wall opposite his own. It was only used occasionally, when he met up with Ahsoka for a few days every couple of cycles, and even then they usually shared a bunk. The sheets were clean and it was a better offer than anything the teen would get in town, which Boba knew perfectly well.

He sank down on top of the blankets and turned to face the wall without a word.

Rex sighed.

“You’re welcome.” He muttered, and went about removing his cloak and the few pieces of armor he still wore, stacking them neatly under his bunk.

_You can take the soldier out of the barracks,_ he thought to himself ruefully. Rodian Brandy always made his humor a little dark.

By the time he pulled himself under his blanket and dimmed the lights, Boba was already snoring on the other side of the room.

Even now, two years since the last time he was called ‘Captain’ there were some habits Rex couldn’t break. He still work up at 0600 every morning, still cleaned his blaster every evening. And he could still go from a sound sleep to Battle Ready alert in half a breath’s time.

His blaster was already in his hand by the time he’d sat up and pointed it toward the strange noise on the other side of the room that had woken him.

A whimper joined the sniffing and wet, shaky breathing and Rex deflated, putting his weapon to one side.He got up and padded quietly over to Boba’s bunk, sitting down carefully so that they weren't touching.

“Hey kid, you awake?”

Boba gasped and went still and silent.

“I’m fine.” He ground out after a moment, sounding anything but.

Rex ran a hand down his face. “You’re crying.”

Boba shifted slightly away.

“No I’m not,” he said, sounding muffled. Rex didn’t respond and a few moments later another small sob cut through the silence.

Hesitantly, Rex reached out to lay a hand on his shoulder, ready to pull away if he resisted. Instead the kid melted, as if the mere presence of a gentle touch had broken open something he’d been working desperately to keep closed.

Sobs racked his smaller frame, shaking the whole bunk, and Rex reached around with his other arm, pulling until Boba was sitting up beside him and wrapped his arms around his shoulders.

“Shh, _udesii, vod’ika,_ ” Rex soothed, rubbing one hand on Boba’s back and using the other to press his face firmer into his shoulder. “You’re alright. I’ve got you.”

Boba shook in his arms and Rex held him tightly, pushing away memories of dark barracks and hugs after nightmares that stung his eyes and throat. Boba unwrapped his arms from around himself and clung to Rex desperately, turning his face into his neck.

“I miss him,” he cried between gasping breaths and shuddering sobs. “I miss him so much.”

Rex bit his lip and sighed.

He forgot that the galaxy had been as cruel to Boba as it had been to the clones. He was the same age when Jango died that the clones were when they were first shipped out from Kamino.

He’d never thought of his brothers as the lucky ones. But maybe he’d been wrong.

The clones, at least, had always had their brothers. Until Order 66 came down Rex had never really understood what it was to be alone. (He knew now. _Alone_ and _Lonely_ were intimate friends of his now). 

But when Jango died, Boba didn’t have anyone else to turn to.

Rex’s chest ached with the knowledge. He turned and pressed his cheek to the side of Boba’s head.

Immediately Boba went rigid in his arms. Rex held his breath, but a moment later Boba relaxed again, clinging tighter still.

Rex squeezed him right back.

He wasn’t Boba’s Buir. Wouldn’t know what that meant even if he wanted to be.

But he was his _ori’vod_. That was one thing Rex knew how to be. Was happy, desperate, to be again.

“I have you, _vod’ika_.” Rex promised. “For as long as you let me. I have you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Review if you like! 
> 
> Mando'a: 
> 
> di'kut - idiot  
> vod'ika - little brother/sister  
> buir - parent/mother/father  
> ori'vod - big brother/sister


End file.
